A $16 iPhone game that’s worth it: Final Fantasy Tactics

Despite some iffy implementation of touchscreen controls and a hefty asking …

The iPhone version of Final Fantasy Tactics is a port of a port, an enhanced remake of a game that was originally released more than a decade ago. It's a game that costs $16—roughly 16 times the price of most iOS games. It's old, expensive, and you can find it elsewhere for cheaper. Then again, it's also one of the best strategy RPGs of all time, playable on your phone. So maybe it's worth it.

This isn't actually a port of the original; it's the PSP remake, subtitled The War of the Lions, that was released a few years back. This means that it has the beautiful, animated cut-scenes from that version, as well as new content like additional classes to unlock. So it's a pretty meaty package, with easily dozens of hours worth of content.

The game itself is the same as the PSP version, with the same epic story and turn-based combat system. If you've played that game, there's nothing new to see here. And it still looks wonderful even squished onto the iPhone's tiny screen.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

What is new, though, is the inclusion of touchscreen controls. These are a bit hit and miss. Navigating the menus via touch is rather clunky, especially since you'll need to tap an OK button outside of the menu itself to confirm most actions. A simple double tap for confirmation would've been very welcome. On the other hand, being able to rotate the camera with a swipe of your finger is a welcome addition.

There have been some reports that the game is laggy with a good deal of graphical slowdown. However, during our time with the game—which was spent on a not-exactly-modern iPhone 3GS—we didn't run into any significant issues. It actually felt slightly snappier than the PSP version.

Sixteen dollars is a lot for an iPhone game, especially considering the game is available on the PlayStation Network—both in remake form and as the PSOne original—for $10. Then again, if you have a PSP to play this on, this version isn't really for you. Considered outside of the iOS ecosystem, and factoring in all of the content that's here, the asking price really isn't all that high. Sure, you could get 16 versions of Angry Birds for that price, but this will probably last you longer. An HD version for the iPad is coming later this month.

Looks cool, but way too much for a portable phone game. I'll wait till it goes on sale for $.99

That's never going to happen with this one. Quality games are worth more than 99 cents. I still think $16 is steep, but thanks to this article I found out that it's available on the Playstation Network. I knew there was a version available for the PSP at some point, but not that I could download it and play it on my PS3. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Looks cool, but way too much for a portable phone game. I'll wait till it goes on sale for $.99

That's never going to happen with this one. Quality games are worth more than 99 cents. I still think $16 is steep, but thanks to this article I found out that it's available on the Playstation Network. I knew there was a version available for the PSP at some point, but not that I could download it and play it on my PS3. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Let's not forget that Square is notorious for not understanding the concept of "reasonably priced".

How does it look on the iPhone 4? Does it have higher-resolution graphics, or are they just scaled up?

I spent a non-trivial portion of my childhood playing FF Tactics Advance, but I don't think it's nostalgia that makes me think that that game is way more aesthetically pleasing than this one. Hand-crafted pixel art trumps underpowered 3D any day of the week.

How does it look on the iPhone 4? Does it have higher-resolution graphics, or are they just scaled up?

I spent a non-trivial portion of my childhood playing FF Tactics Advance, but I don't think it's nostalgia that makes me think that that game is way more aesthetically pleasing than this one. Hand-crafted pixel art trumps underpowered 3D any day of the week.

Huh? FFT is all pixel art as well. Even though it came out on the Playstation originally it was almost all hand drawn pixels. You might complain about the lack of noses, but it's not because they were running out of triangles or anything.

This is great news. I have the ps1 version still, but firing up the old beast and re-playing levels to advance kept me from making it to the end. An iOS version that can actually be paused between sessions (totally underrated feature for gaming) is very welcome.

I can't see the pricing problem for a deep, long strategy game with more than 50 hours of narrative content. This isn't another clone of zelda or Advance Wars. This the Final Fantasy Tactics, possibly the best game of its type ever.

I first played it on the PS1, then on the PSP and now I'll play it... on the iPad. I prefer to wait a little and play it on a bigger screen. :-) One of my favorite games of all times! It's sad Square never made a proper sequel, as the "Advance" FF Tactics had nothing to do with this one, and weren't half as fun, imho.

This is great news. I have the ps1 version still, but firing up the old beast and re-playing levels to advance kept me from making it to the end. An iOS version that can actually be paused between sessions (totally underrated feature for gaming) is very welcome.

I can't see the pricing problem for a deep, long strategy game with more than 50 hours of narrative content. This isn't another clone of zelda or Advance Wars. This the Final Fantasy Tactics, possibly the best game of its type ever.

Is there a Ben Kuchera Masterpiece article on this game yet?

I was about to track you down and physically accost you for the potential implication that Advance Wars was just another game, but then I re-read the paragraph.

I spent a non-trivial portion of my childhood playing FF Tactics Advance, but I don't think it's nostalgia that makes me think that that game is way more aesthetically pleasing than this one. Hand-crafted pixel art trumps underpowered 3D any day of the week.

I only played FFT in its original PS1 incarnation, but I did play a lot of FFT:Advance. Original FFT still has plenty of sprites. The characters were all sprites, and the menus and panels all had a very hand drawn look to them. 3D was only used for the battlefield, and mainly only helped with making zooms and pans feel a lot more natural. You could call that kind of stuff unnecessary if you want, but it still looked really nice so I wouldn't say it came at any significant cost.

I didn't play through nearly as much of the original as I did of FFT:A, because the original FFT seemed more difficult (maybe I was just stupider), and I wound up getting stuck and gave up and never picking it back up--not because I didn't think it was awesome, but I just landed into the midst of some other awesome games...and you know how that can go. Next thing I knew, it was being remade. I remember appreciating that FFT had a "real" storyline, rather than a borderline imaginary one (Narnia style) with some kids entering an alternate universe.

Looks cool, but way too much for a portable phone game. I'll wait till it goes on sale for $.99

I can't tell if you're just joking or actually serious (I sort of suspect and hope for the former), but this is completely absurd. Just because you can now play a former console game on mobile class hardware doesn't change it's quality, and on a $/hour basis solid video games like this have got to be one of the best values out there. One could easily sink 40+ hours into a TRPG like this. Not to mention $16 is like a single large pizza or something anyway, it's so little for something that can provide a lot of entertainment.

Thanks for the heads up though Ars, I've been waiting for this for quite a while now, but missed the release.

As an Android owner (both phone and tablet) I only have one thing to say to iPhone owners: "You lucky bastards!" -- Monty Python. But, then again, I get to play it for free on my PSX emu (FPse) on my tablet -- so nya!

I spent a non-trivial portion of my childhood playing FF Tactics Advance, but I don't think it's nostalgia that makes me think that that game is way more aesthetically pleasing than this one. Hand-crafted pixel art trumps underpowered 3D any day of the week.

FFT is just 2D sprites on top of 3D tile environments. That lets you zoom and rotate the map, but still retains the hand drawn charm. I wouldn't call it pixel art exactly, it's larger and more detailed than SNES or GBA-era sprites, but not HD quality either (maybe they'll up-res for the iPad release?)

This is probably my favorite strategy game of all time, but the quality of the iOS port could use some work. On my 3GS, the AI takes way too long to decide its next move, and magic and summons animations are really laggy.

I mean, the original playstation had a 33MHz processor and 2MB of RAM, while the 3GS has a 600MHz processor and 256MB or RAM. Even with losses due to porting to a different architecture, I still wouldn't expect worse performance that I got back on the playstation.

I'm pretty disappointed by the performance, but since it is such a great game, I would still (somewhat hesitantly) recommend it to someone with a faster iPhone 4.

So it won't have a universal version? If I want to play on both my iPad and iPhone I have to buy it twice? Any word on pricing for the iPad version - if the iPhone version is $16 what will the iPad one be?

Is this port based off the original PSX version or the PSP version? I feel like the classes that were added to the latter hurt the game because they were so unbalanced (it's like every character is Orlandu or Gafgarion with those new classes).

Is this port based off the original PSX version or the PSP version? I feel like the classes that were added to the latter hurt the game because they were so unbalanced (it's like every character is Orlandu or Gafgarion with those new classes).

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This isn't actually a port of the original; it's the PSP remake, subtitled The War of the Lions, that was released a few years back.

Is this port based off the original PSX version or the PSP version? I feel like the classes that were added to the latter hurt the game because they were so unbalanced (it's like every character is Orlandu or Gafgarion with those new classes).

Is this port based off the original PSX version or the PSP version? I feel like the classes that were added to the latter hurt the game because they were so unbalanced (it's like every character is Orlandu or Gafgarion with those new classes).

So long as the iOS audience continues to have a severe aversion to games that cost more than $.99, major publishers will continue to treat the platform as an extension to the bargain bin - receiving major titles long after everyone else is finished with them.

Is this port based off the original PSX version or the PSP version? I feel like the classes that were added to the latter hurt the game because they were so unbalanced (it's like every character is Orlandu or Gafgarion with those new classes).

The original game had some pretty damn unbalanced classes too; if you put in the work to trick out a calculator they were incredibly powerful (one toon capable of annihilating the entire enemy force from across the map.) I mean, you could generally roll with Ramza, Orlandu, Beowulf, Agrias and a black mage with calculator skills and generally rape everything in your path, even in the "secret dungeon."

Nevertheless, no Android version, no buy. I stopped supporting Popcap when they decided to treat us non-iOS folks like second class citizens. Looks like I'm doing the same for Square. Luckily I haven't been impressed by any FF game enough to buy it besides the Tactics ones, but it's a little stupid to exclude a platform for what is essentially shovelware.